Due to the huge success of Heart of Greed TVB decided to make another big production its an 2nd series of HOG however the story does not link together. This series also contain 40 episodes like the previous one

Storyline

The drama is based on the Kam Family. Who started of having a small mooncake business and they have 6 kids and all their name symbolises 家好月圓慶中 (they were suppose to have another one who they could name, 秋, instead they were very close to one of the workers Yan Hung whose husband had left her leaving her with her daughter, and they often nicknames her Yu So Chau (于素秋) so they said that 家好月圓慶中秋 was now completed, which directly means ” good family, round moon, celebrate moon festival” which is symbolic because they own a mooncake business called Moonlight Bakery, and they all also value moon festival and being together as a whole family

However this all changes when we learn that Jo Bau had an affair with Yan Hung as a result of this he and Hor ma go through a bitter divorce. Where the court separates the children. Jo Bau gets Ka, Yuen, Chung and Hor ma gets Ho, Yuet, Hin.

We learn that over the years Hung manipulates the family to distant Jo from Hor and his children. She also spoils and secretly does spikeful things to Ka, Yuet and Chung, but in a way that is not obvious to Jo Bau. She also sends her beloved daughter Sum abroad, where she later graduates and become a doctor. Their moon cake business also grows rapidly and soon become known throughout HK and totaling one billion Hong Kong dollar for the Kam family.

On the other hand Hor Ma and the kids she gained custody of live a modest life where she owns one small Hor ma cake shop. And that shop provides for the whole family’s living. Then her sister Sa comes back to HK this is when trouble arupt her normally peaceful and loving family. Because Sa is money motivated, loud mouth, only cares for herself. She causes lots of trouble in the family. But evenutally changes and learns that her family means everything to her and she starts to value it. However her daughter is ten times worse, she is manipulative and is evil but does it secretly. Pretty much like a younger version of Yan Hung.

The drama proceeds by developing and showing us the life of all in the Kam family and the people around them. Which involves love, hate, business and above all family relations.

The main storyline towards the end is when Jo Bau starts to see more of his “other” family at Hor ma’s, Yan Hung gets extremely jealous and eventually decides that after all these years, everything she had worked for might be all taken away from her by Hor ma and the 6 kids. So she decides to defend herself and attack the others. All her lies and trouble she caused over the years are now rapidly exposed, and now everyone gets to see the “real” her. She starts a court case for a divorce with Jo Bau and plans to take all his assets and just leaving him near to nothing……….. I wont ruin the ending for you but from here onwards everything gets 10 times more dramatic and tensed ( hence the TVB rating going sky high)

Actors and Actresses

Ha Yu ~ portrays the character very well, as a man who listens to whatever his wife tells him, loves his kids, a coward at times and gullible. This character was way more better than the one he played in HOG1 which I found very annoying especially with that annoying laugh. In this one we can see more of His emotion of happy, sorrow and joke-ness(which is not forced now) is well showned ((deserved to win the award for best male actor this year and he did))

Louise Lee Sze Ki ~in the series played an opposite character to HOG 1 where she had all the authority. Here she plays the “little” woman in the family but not in the sense of just staying at home, but in the sense of not having much power to fight for her husband after the affair. But at the same time she would do anything to fight for her family. It was enjoyable watching her character because she seemed to be the glue to her small family. But at time it was very fustrating because how come someone be so forgiving, which made it some what unrealistic

Michelle Yim ~ portrays a very good evil character, the hairstyle she had however was very poor it seems so fake, however apart from that she made it acting seem so effortless, and it was really worth watching her play the scheming lead woman in the drama, which was completely opposite to her character in HOG1 where she was someone who often got picked on and pushed around. For this portrayal of Yan Yung she deserved to win the Best Female Actress Award 2008

Susanna Kwan ~ once again played the loud mouth person who is really really good at arguing I must say. Her character was fun to watch and in this series she was not that evil. But I must admit at times all the arguing gave me a headach, they just put too much in.

As for the “children” actors and actresses, I felt that they were not as well developed as in HOG1. It was lacking in some dimensions.

Moses Chan ~ character is ok to watch but it did not give him much to develop his character. Whereas in HOG1 his character was much more memorable and joyful to watch. And his relationship chemistry in this drama with Travia was very lacking there was like nothing there, I think you cant blame the actors for this because the script does not give them much to develop on but aside from that Moses portray the character Ka very well.

Raymond Lam ~ his character was very different to that in HOG1 because here he played the soft, very kind guy who just cared for one thing “family” he lacks motivation to develop further as a person in that he is not bothered about his career. But his chemistry once again with Linda was quite good. However I do prefer their chemistry and relationship in HOG more because it was more developed and emotional.

Linda Chung ~ her character in this drama was once again Soft and often cries ( but I have to say she is one of the best TVB actresses when it comes to crying she makes it seem so natural and realistic) It was nice to watch her character most of the time. One of the most memorable parts was when she was writing the email to Ho and Ling-B that scene focused solely on her character and acting, and showed what a skillful actress she is. Also when she was arguing with her mum too that was very well done. However once again I prefer her character in HOG1 where it is more developed and interesting. Having said that her acting for the character Sum is still very good and you can tell she really is a nice and sweet person in real life too. One of my favourite TVB actress.

Tavia Yeung~ played the adoptive daughter very well because you often felt sad with her when Sa Yee picked on her for being adoptive, and you felt her pain. I think her acting in this drama was better than that in HOG. She was one of my favourite characters in this series

Fala Chen ~ she was the mute girl in this drama so it was about true talent because you had to focus more on her emotions and face gesture which was very good. She also maded her wedding speech very emotional, showed very good acting skills.

Overall the younger characters did not have much space to develop the characters they played, I much prefered their characters and love chemistry in HOG1. And in this drama the love story between the young characters were some what messy, in that, it seem to not have allowed them to develop and they seem to “just” fall for each other “like that” so easily (well except for Sum and Ho who liked each other for young age, however the chemistry somehow still does not seem as strong as that in HOG1)

However I prefer the story in this one because it has more happening and more meaning to it, like the symbolic of mooncake and the names. And the ending to this one is some what better than that of HOG1. I also liked the songs that they came up with in this series, especially the one that they sang to Chung Jai in the Park about all the children in the Kam family. And the song that they sing for Hin is also very sweet.

Overall I would say its a interesting drama to watch but there are lots of flaws in the overall storyline and character development but if you liked HOG1 then you would love this one too.

Spoiler below

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I found that once again(Sa Ka in HOG1) the “sudden” change of personality so un-believeable. That of Yan Hung in this one. After all the scheming and even after all the emotional plead from her daughter she still does not change then a few years down the line she “somehow” changes, that bit was very vague. Surely if she was to change it would have been when she was arguing with Sum Lui about her giving the money back to Jo Bau, when there was lots of emotion and true love from her daughter that should have converted her back to good.?!?! right?!?!

Memorable scenes:

~ When Yan Hung is accusing Ho of trying to get together with his “sister” but him and Sum Liu are not blood related. Anyhow then she hears everything from upstairs. And comes storming downstairs very emotionally and tells everyone she was the one who had a huge crush and loved him.

~ Hing’s wedding when she says a very emotional speech and then her family sing “her song” very sweet and touching

~ When Chung Jai is sad and goes to the park where his older siblings cheer him up with a song, which is hilarious.

~ When they manage to make a very big mooncake

~Wedding of Yan Hung and Jo Bau when the children raise their glass and its like a slap in the face towards Yan Hung because she knows that they are refering to Jo Bau and Hor Ma. That may have been one of the best written scenes, I watched that scene at least 3 times!!!!!

~ When Jo Bau looses the court case but he is still very happy, the canteen moment was quite cheesy but it was fun to watch the expression on Yan Hung’s face.

~ Last episode when Sum Lui is arguing with her mum about the assets. Great performance from both actresses!

Comparing Moonlight Resonance;MR and HOG:

~The love chemistry between all the characters was WAY better in HOG, much more developed.

~ The family connection in MR seem more solid between the siblings.

~ story seemed a bit more rounded in this one.

~ MR seemed a bit more realistic than HOG in terms of the family links.

~ I still cant come to a conclusion of which I like more because they each have a mix of what i like so i guess if they somehow combiened bits from both series and made that as the original drama at the start before making these 2 it would have been more better, but that is never going to happen now..lolz

Once again the ending seemed very rushed. TVB tends to do that a lot maybe they focus on the middle of series too much leaving not enough time for the ending, which often seems like a huge waste for the overall drama.

Below are some mix pictures from the drama series

Hope you found my review interesting, but I have to reinforce that these are my views and opinion and they may not be what you think about the drama. Nevertheless please do leave some comments. ^_^

King Of Snooker: 桌球天王

Cast:

Adam Chen Siu Chow ~Yau Yat Kiu 游一橋

Joyce Tang Lai Ming ~ Toni,Chin To To 錢滔滔

Derek Kwok Jing Hung ~ Ray, Lui Kin Chung 雷建衝

Niki Chow Lai Kei ~Yau Ka Tung 游加勤

Patrick Tang Kin Wang ~ Him, Gan Chi Him 靳子謙

Introduction:

I personally give this drama 3.5 out of 5 stars

Well from the title and picture it is clearly about snooker. So I would would say if your not a big fan of snooker then this drama series may not be really suited to you. Or watch it if you really like the actors and actresses in this drama. For me I’m quite a fan of snooker, and secondly I enjoy watching snooker so this drama was something different to other TVB series.

Storyline:

So the series starts of by showing a man fishing, and this man is Yau Yat Kiu it then moves on to a young guy (Him Him) looking for the master of snooker who is a very talented snooker player who has retired. He finally asks the man who was fishing and the man points him in the direction towards a restuarant called Cue Power. After some mis-identification he finds out that the man who directed him into the restuarant was in fact the the guy he was looking for. We learn that Him-him really wants to learn snooker from Yau Yat Kiu.

But then his daughter (Kan-Kan) explains that her father will only teach the people who can solve the 3 stack snooker problem.Shown below. [some basic things about snooker because all the red balls have been potted the next ball that needs to be potted is the yellow however the yellow is on top of the green and brown it is quite literally impossible, hence why no one has solved it, not even his daughter who has been trying since she was little] (hm…I don’t think in the real world it is possible to do that but in this drama some of the snooker moves are fiction, and I guess this one is one of them)

Eventually after sometime Kiu makes an exception and decides to teach Him-him, and discovers his is quite talented. He also eventually teaches Ka-Ka too. Then one day he finds out that Him-him is actually his best friend’s and ex-girlfriend’s son. But because of an incident in the past ( I won’t spoil it for you, you should watch and find out yourself) that incident was one that he regretted for his whole life and subsquently decided to retire from snooker during the peak of his career and hence gave up snooker. And we learn that because of this incident his ex-girlfriend’s sister Toni hates him and refuses to let her nephew(Him-him) learn from Kiu. However she later acknowledges that he is a very good player so lets her newphew continue to learn from him.

Him-him soon falls for Ka-ka but she seems to take a strong interest in the current top snooker player Ray Liu. So he works hard to try and beat Ray. Further down the line Ray falls for Toni, but she likes Kiu. So Ray vows to beat Kiu at snooker. But he eventually accepts that you can’t make someone love you.

Just as Him-him and Ka-ka were very close to starting a relationship Him-him finds out how Kiu had embrassed his father and had been the main reason why his parents had an unhappy marriage and subsquently resulting in him having an bad childhood. So he decides to take revenge on Kiu and where else better than on the snooker table………………………………………………………………………………………………

Towards the end lots of issues arise:

Where people started to betray others, I hate people who betray you after you treated them as a friend or with respect, and then they move around you and stab you in the back. in this drama there were several cases of this

Him and ray

Dr j(Ray’s manager) and ray

Picture below the moment Ray realized his manager betrayed him

Toni and her assistant helper.

I’m also strongly against kicking people when they are already down. That’s just cold. But then I guess people who do such acts will eventually get whats coming for them, and sooner or later they will get punished.

Performance:

Adam Chen – Always gives an strong performance in any character he portray’s and this series is no difference. He is really good at playing the wise guy and is enjoyable to watch him play. Furthermore the chemistry he has with Niki is also very believeable.

Joyce Tang – Has always been an actress who I like a lot because she can play many roles; the soft one, the mean or bossy characters. I think she does not get given much credit often which is quite unfair. But at least in this drama she is like one of the main female actresses. Her change in character from the start to beginning just shows how she is a very good actress. And I think her chemistry with Derek was one of the best bits to watch( if they are really a couple in real life which I think they are, I hope them both happiness together =)

Derek Kwok – I really liked him in this drama. Before he was just an OK actor in my opinions, and was just someone who normally tends to play the bad guy but as time went by I liked him in drama’s more and realized how good an actor he was, also in this drama he was the nice guy and had lots of charm and was sweet. I think I actually did fall a bit in love with his character Ray. He was really good at acting as the funny guy, I really liked watching whenever he was on screen, and the way he acted when he was playing snooker was quite realistic.

Niki Chow – Niki in this drama was alright but I dont think her character gave her much challenage( her performance in seventh day was much more better) Anyways thats not really her fault, her chemistry with Patrick was not really strong, but it was not forced either. Overall it was ok.

Patrick Tang – In this drama was quite annoying at times because he seemed too needy but then towards the end he got quite annoying. But I guess thats what how the character was meant to be portrayed so he kind of did that.

Below are some mix pictures from the series

Father and daughter

Him Him

Ray

Snooker

Overall I find this drama quite fun to watch, there is not really any extremely dramatic scenes but the snooker matches are quite good, however once again if your not really a snooker fan then you might not be interested in watching this drama. Hope you found my review helpful.

Ka-Ka Pictures

Mixture of pictures of Ray and Toni

Mix Pix

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